December 81, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER , 
591 
admire this interesting race of plants. It is white counterpart of the 
well-known yellow type, but has very slender leaves like N. tenuifolius, 
though not so long, and usually only one is produced by each bulb. It 
was introduced from Algiers to Kew by Col. Playfair, and flowers were 
produced in January, 1870. It is, however, considered by some writers to 
be identical with one of the four varieties known to Parkinson, one of 
which is described as “The White Bastard Rush Daffodil or Jonquilla.” 
It has also been named Corbulaiia oantabrica, which Mr. Burbidge says 
“ Originated from its having been grown about 1588 by a ‘ Master Nicola 
BensoD, sometime of King’s College in Cambridge,’ as noted by Gerard.’ 
Fig. 87.—Narcissus Bulbocodium var. monophjllus. 
It is a charming plant, its flowers possessing a delicate and most agreeable 
fragrance. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
Fruits and Fruit Trees , Home and Foreign. By Leo H. Gkindon. 
Manchester : Palmer & Howe, Princess Stieet ; and London : Simpkin 
Marshall Sc Co. 
This work, as the author states in the preface, “ claims to be no more 
than an amateur’s contribution to the literature of the very large and 
varied subject,” and as such it will be welcome to many who are already 
familiar with Mr. Grindon’s free and agreeable style of writing. The 
book deals chiefly with the history and origin of the principal cultivated 
fruits, and in this respect it might be compared to a popular rendering of 
M. Alphonse Decandolle’s admirable work on “The Origin of Cultivated 
Plants.” Much statistical matter is added respecting the importation of 
foreign fruits, and of English fruits, are given short lists of varieties 
generally useful fgr cultivation. Perhaps this may be regarded as the 
least satisfactory portion of the work, for, though the author acknowledges 
the assistance of some noted fruit-growers in preparing it, yet there are 
some varieties named that are not worthy of a place in small collections. 
For instance, under the list of Vines, at page 118, Ferdinand de Lesseps is 
named as one of six white varieties, while the useful Foster’s Seedling is 
omitted. Again, in the list of Pine Apples, page 242, Smooth Cayenne is 
omitted, though only four are named. 
The nomenclature is generally accurate, and very few errors are observ¬ 
able. We notice, however, that under “Juvias,” which the author adopts 
in preference to the be ter-known “ Brazil Nuts,” the generic name is 
given as “ Bertholettia,’’ instead of “ Bertholletia.” We commend the 
book to the attention of the public as affording much pleasant and instruc¬ 
tive reading, and as an example of its style we give the following extract 
relative to two fruits very greatly in demand at this time of year. 
“ Widely dispersed over the world as the Vine is in itself, there are very 
few localities where the preparation of raisins can be accomplish'd success¬ 
fully. Particular kinds of soil are necessary for the Vines, and the conditions 
of climate where the fruit can be cured are rare and limited. For perfect 
results, the Grapes must be dried in the open air, in contact with a dry and 
heated soil, in an atmosphere void of all dampness, secure from rain and dew, 
and saturated, for the time being, with the hottest sunshine. These condi¬ 
tions are combined in certain parts of Spain ; at their best,it would seem, 
exclusively near Malaga. Round about that celebrated city the country is 
very rugged. Beyond about six miles from the town, every spot where it i3 
possible to insert a Vine is utilised. Every hill is covered, especially near 
the sea, and every bunch is converted into the admirable sort we import 
under the name of ‘ Muscatels.’ Muscatels are often called 1 Raisins of the 
Sun,’ because originally, it would seem, after the stalks of the bunches had 
been partially severed, so as to interrupt the natural flow of the sap, they 
were left upon the tree to dry in the sunshine before gathering. In Spain, 
at the present day, the more usual practice is to cut the bunches when pro¬ 
perly ripened, then to dry them in the sun upon hard earthen floors, 
specially prepared, and which can be covered in erse of rain. Two or three 
other parts of the world have latterly become important as producers of 
Raisins similar to Muscatels. Very good ones are prepared in Fresno county, 
California, by cutting and laying the bunches to dry in the sun, in shallow 
trays, for about a fortnight. Near Huasco, in Chili, there is a little valley, 
where many tons of first-rate Raisins are annually prepared, the seeds so 
small as to be hardly noticeable. Excellent Raisins are prepared also in 
some parts of northern Persia and Bokhara. 
“Valentiaor pudding Raisins are imported, like the Muscatels, from 
Spain. But while the latter attain perfection only near the sea, the 
Valentins are raised in the interior of the country, and from an inferior 
description of Grape, with a thicker skin. The bunches when cut are either 
hung upon lines or laid out upon the ground separately, turned over once, 
any of the berries that have spoiled being then picked out, and in fifteen 
days gathered up again. A lye of wood ashes and barilla, medicated with 
salt and oil, is then prepared, and into this the bunche3 are dipped. The 
action of the lye causes the saccharine element of the fruit to exude in part 
to the surface ; hence the peculiar brown and varnished appearance of the 
pudding Raisin, as well as the stickiness which distinguishes it from the 
aristocratic Muscatel. The Spaniards are well recompensed for the pains 
and trouble they bestow, since their fruit trade with England alone, all 
sorts included, is worth annually no less a sum than £1,500,000 sterling. 
“ The very sweet and nice little Raisins called Sultanas, light in colour, 
and destitute of stones or seeds, are received from Smyrna, in the vicinity 
of which town they appear to have been cultivated for between two and. 
three hundred years. There is no essential difference between the Vine 
which yields them and many other varieties producing small and seedless 
Grapes. The special character of seedlessness seems to be correlative with 
the diminished size of the berry, and may have been originally induced by 
special circumstances of soil and climate, leading to partially abortive 
flowers. The Vines are planted in rows 6 or 7 feet apart, and at intervals 
of 3 or 4 feet, and so trained as to form irregularly branching little bushes, 
which seldom attain the height of a yard. They are grown almost exclu¬ 
sively upon the hippurite limestone of the neighbourhood, up to an elevation 
of about 400 feet above the sea. The harvest commences about the middle 
of July, and occupies nearly a month in the gathering. Tue bunches are 
dipped, like those of the Valentia Raisins in Spain, into a lye made of 
wood ashes, to which has been added a small quantity of oil. They are then 
dried upon the ground, a process occupying nearly a week, after which the 
berries are stripped or shaken from the stalks, and packed in the drums in 
which they arrive for the shops. The quantity brought to England is 
about 10,000 tons annually. 
“ Another variety of the Vine furnishes the inestimable fruit so familiar, 
in the dried state, under the name of Grocers’Currants, or, when we are 
speaking of their uses for cakes and puddings, simply as Currants. Little or 
nothing is known of its earliest history, though the plant was certainly in 
cultivation before the time of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh being 
said to have had some sort of monopoly of the importation into this country. 
These are the genuine and original “ Currants,” the word being a corruption 
of the epithet in uvre Corinthiacce, “ Corinthian Grapes,” by which name 
they were called when first brought from Greece, the native country. The 
geographical range of the successful culture, like that of the Muscatel Raisin, 
is very limited, and from similar causes. The metropolis of the district in 
which the plant flourishes is Patras, whence the fruit has sometimes the 
appellation of the Patras Currant. Of the 86,500 tons exported from Greece 
in the thrice-famous Currant year, 1876, when all the vegetable products of 
Greece were exceptionally abundant, 71,000 were the pioduce of the Morea, 
including a few grown in the neighbourhood of Missolonghi. The balance 
of 15,500 was despatched from the southern Ionian islands, including Zante 
and Cephalonia. Corinth, singular to say, produces noneat all, though the 
Grape is successfully cultivated there for wine-making. The actual 
localities of the cultivation are confined to a narrow belt of country near 
the coast. The vineyards are mostly within 150 feet of the sea level; they 
rarely exceed 400 feet; the elevation is thus markedly lower than that to 
which ordinary Grape culture may be carried. The vineyards best cared 
for present a quite unusual air of neatness and finish. The Vines are 
planted in rows 6 feet apart. A single shoot is trained to a stake a yard in 
height. As soon as it is strong enough to stand alone, the stake is removed ; 
the training of the branches is then so conducted as to give six or seven 
beautiful radiations of leafy shoot, which collectively produce, in due 
season, from fifty to ninety bunches. If an occasional prop should be 
